Ruins (Part 1) - The Prophecy

A land where no creatures dare to dwell.

A land where even the ground is cracked, as if it had went through droughts for decades.

A land where there is no sign of vegetation for miles.

In such a land, one could see a caravan-like procession, comprising of many people who were young enough to be students, as well as a few older people who led them.

These were the students of the Academy, going towards the ruins for the final battle.

Sukuna was standing quite forward in the procession, with about 80% of the people behind him.

Eva was walking beside him, wearing an expressionless face.

Lucas was walking further back, looking around, trying to identify any dangers.

Ryogaku was standing with Alexia and Johan even further back, with about only 20% of the students behind them.

Silvas was leading the procession, walking in the front of the students, while all the teachers stood around the group.

There were a few carriages that were carrying various important items, such as food, water, and weapons.

It should be known that even though the power level in this world was quite low, the quality of items like mana stones was much higher than their original world.

There was no need to say that many people had brought some with them, so that they could sell them in the original world for huge profits.

If they stay alive, that is.

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The ruins were said to be found through a doorway that was present on the side of a mountain.

The doorway in front of which Silvas was standing right now.

Sukuna had walked much closer to Silvas, now standing right behind him, due to his curiosity.

The stone door frame looked withered, covered with soil, but the carvings of words of an unknown language were clearly visible.

The doorway was slightly opened, through which white mist came out as if inside, there existed something ethereal.

Everyone standing behind the doorway felt a mixture of awe and nervousness, as they knew that going through it will lead to adventures unknown.

Silvas took a deep breath as he pushed open the doorway, which led deep white mist rush out.

The white mist felt like it was not even there, if one could not see it, they would not believe that there was something covering them.

All students, led by Silvas, walked slowly down the stairway, as the environment kept getting darker every second.

Everyone could not help but feel an imaginary pressure increasing every time they went down a step.

Sukuna, however, was much more interested in the carvings that were present on the walls of the stairway, as he felt a sense of connection with them, but he left that for now.

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The students saw a faint light at the end of the stairway, which was flickering, indicating a burning fire.

Reaching the end of the stairway, their was a moderately long hall, lit up by burning wood fixed onto the sides, on the walls.

At the end of the hallway, Silvas could see a huge room. He steeled his resolve and walked forward.

Reaching the huge room, it seemed like a dead end, but on the other side, there was something carved onto a rock.

A person from the kingdom, a sort of archaeologist, was brought with them, who came forward to try to read this text.

He stood there for about 2 minutes before saying one word.

"Sacrifice"

That was the only word he could discern from the ancient language carved on the stone.

But, as soon as that word came out of his mouth, everyone heard a whirring sound, and felt a few vibrations in the room.

A few people panicked and tried running back, but the stairway had disappeared, now replaced by a huge rock that blocked the hallway.

The whirring sound got louder until, something black and circular formed on the floor.

"DON'T MOVE"

Silvas shouted in an authoritative voice, which made almost everyone stop in their tracks.

The black circle slowly moved around, looking for a sacrifice.

After a few seconds it stopped under . . . Sukuna.

The black circle disappeared, revealing a deep hole under it.

"Son of a b–"

His voice cut off as he fell into the hole.

Eva tried to catch him, but by the time she would reach him, the hole was already closed off.

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"–itch"

Sukuna was falling for about 5 seconds before he landed in a big room.

His legs were damaged from the fall and he fell onto the floor, healing them with Reverse Cursed Technique.

He stood up quickly, fully alert, and looked around the room.

The room had nothing but a few skeletons on the floor, with carvings of tally marks on the walls.

He looked up, and the hole from which he fell was now replaced with a roof made of rough rocks.

It was quite a huge room, he walked to one of the walls with tally marks, and counted them to say 65.

This '65' may even mean years, which could be quite disastrous if there were people stuck here for so long.

He tried attacking the walls, but to no avail, even cleave did not put a single scratch on them.

He then walked to the skeletons, looking for something useful, after going through about 30 of them, he found an old book, which was in terrible condition.

On it's cover page was written . . .

"The Prison"

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The students, still scared by what happened to Sukuna, kept walking through the ruins.

Eva could be seen to be the most distraught out of them all.

After a long while, she finally felt something for another person, she finally started caring for someone. But now, that someone was gone, possibly dead.

There were many pathways, most leading to a dead end, but after a long time, they came across a room with many pathways on varying heights. Bridges and stairs opened up a way to every single one of these paths.

There were about 15 ways to go, but other than that, right in the middle of the room, there was a huge statue.

The statue was made of stone, greatly and precisely carved, as if done by intricate use of mana.

The statue was of a man wearing only pants, while is upper body was bare.

His body could be seen to be toned quite well, and a statue of him being there means that he must be influential.

He was standing in a pose with his hands wide open, and a grin on his face, as if mocking someone to try to harm him.

The person in the statue looked like a king overlooking his subjects with disgust.

Some students instinctively stepped back after locking eyes with the statue, that seemed to be glowing red in the dark room.

A red gem was placed on each eye, which shone due to the little light that the room had, and it made the person look deadly, as if ready to end the existence of anyone without blinking.

Near the statue, a few feet in front of it, there was a round stone kept, with a few words carved on it.

The words seemed rough, as if the one carving them was shaking.

The archaeologist went up to the stone, and said that it might take some time to figure this one out.

All the students rested for a bit in that place, some roaming around to explore the well-built ruins, but none daring to go too far.

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After about 10 minutes, the archaeologist went to Silvas, holding a piece of paper where he wrote his findings.

Silvas took the paper, and he had never been more shocked in his life, he almost let a voice of confusion leak out.

He unintentionally dropped the paper. Mean, noticing this, picked up the paper to check it out for himself, and he was not less surprised than Silvas.

The paper said . . .

"The Savior of Millions and Destroyer of Billions

The Supreme Ruler shall return to The Prison to take what he left

When he does, Chaos shall ensue

All Hail . . .

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. . . Ryomen Sukuna"